Moon jellyfish

I am a new fan of Stacy Holbert, a woman who apparently lives on Ambergris Caye in Belize, and posts great Belize scuba diving videos to You Tube. One of her videos is a fabulous minute-and-a-half clip of the beautiful Moon jellyfish. We don’t see these that often, but it’s always a thrill when we do.

Everyone is afraid of jellyfish, because their sting delivers a whopper of a hurt, but really, they can’t even come and get you if they wanted to, you have to bump into them. They don’t have a thing against you. I think if you keep that in mind, you can learn to appreciate their beauty (while keeping a safe distance.)

Moon jellies are 10-16 inches in diameter, and can best be identified by the clover-shaped markings on the top of their body. They inhabit much of the world’s oceans, from the tropics to the far north and south. I looked them up on Wikipedia, and was astonished to read that they can live in ocean temperatures between 43 and 88 degrees! Now that is adaptability!

To my knowledge, no one on our trips has ever been stung by a Moon jellyfish. Our biggest enemy is the Portuguese Man-O-War, and luckily we don’t see them that often either. Our most common jellyfish encounters are with the Pica Pica, which are the larvae of the Sea Thimble jellyfish, and their sting causes an annoying, itchy rash. Just wearing a dive skin insures you won’t be stung (except possibly on your neck, which isn’t covered by a dive skin.) You can find a great deal on a dive skin here: http://www.leisurepro.com/p-blrlm/neosport-unisex-lycra-spandex-skin-suit?=,, I bought one of these myself, and can attest to it’s good quality. This is the best insurance against a jellyfish sting of any variety.